http://www.vrijmetselarij.net/el_sol_naciente/index1.htm#historyFreemasonry in Aruba
Freemasonry came to the Island of Aruba with the discovery of gold in the beginning of the 20th century.
Today Aruba has 3 regular Lodges. Lodge "El Sol Naciente" # 113, Lodge "King Solomon" # 160, both chartered under the Gr.: E.: of the Netherlands and Lodge "Hiram" # 102 chartered under the Gr.: L.: of Venezuela
THE HISTORY OF:
LODGE EL SOL NACIENTE No. 113
The turn of the century was an important era for freemasonry in Aruba.
During this Period, 1900, the Gold Mining Co. was still very active and in the hands of English engineering supervision.
Due to this fact, many English Masons were stationed on the island which led to the founding of a so-called "Masonic Club". However, this did not progress much further.
In 1911 there was already a group of Arubans who had become members of "Igualdad Lodge No 653"in Curacao. They took over the Masonic Club in 1912,.
This group attempted to acquire a charter from the Grand Lodge of England through the aid of their mother Lodge Igualdad.
These members were, Bro.: Cornelis Hendrik Eman, Harmen Jan Schreuder, Horacio Irausquin Lampe, Leonardo Macabeus Henriquez and Jan Hendrik Albert Eman.
The name given to the Masonic Club was: El Sol Naciente.
It happened that the request for the charter was not granted. The Grand Lodge of England ruled that since there was no District Grand Lodge in the area to exercise supervision, the request was not entertained.
This group however' was rather persistent.
Once more a petition was filed with the Grand Lodge of England where upon this Grand Lodge decided to refer the matter to the Grand East of the Netherlands.
The result was that to obtain the requested charter for Aruba, seven of the members of "Igualdad Lodge" residing in Aruba had to travel by schooner to Curacao to get their membership from the "Lodge de Vergenoeging".
On August 13, 1920 the following Breth:. traveled to Curacao for this purpose; Bro.: L.J.M. Henriquez, H.J. Schreuder, H. Yrausquin Lampe, H.L. Scholten, C.H. Eman, S.A.A. Henriquez and J.G. Veeris.
Three months later, on November 15, 1920 the Grand Loge of Holland granted the charter to El Sol Naciente.
The Lodge was installed by Br.: Quast, Lt. Gov. of Aruba, who was appointed by Bo.: delegate Winkel who was unable to be present. The W.:M.:, after thanking Br.: Quast and the installation committee, talked about there goal first being reached after twelve years of hard work as a "Masonic Club".
According to the register of members, the following were the first candidates to be initiated: Edgar Raul Henriquez, and Idelgo Iden Frigerio, on June 24, 1922, and August Bernhart Kuiperi, on December 25 1924.
During these early years "El Sol Naciente" operated in the Spanish language with rituals received from "Lodge Igualdad" which at that time also operated in Spanish.
In 1927 the Pan Am Oil Co. LTD. started operations on the east side of the island under the name of "Lago Oil & Transport Co. Ltd".
This brought with it a new swing to freemasonry in Aruba.
The American Masons who came to the island as employees of the Pan Am requested affiliation with "El Sol Naciente".
They being the overwhelming majority and not able to speak Spanish, obtained English rituals from the Grand Lodges in the USA.
It was not until later years, after the end of World War 2, that Dutch translated rituals were introduced.
During the twenties "El Sol Naciente" labored in a small building in the "Wilhelminastraat", east of the old Protestant Church.
In the latter part of the twenties our lodge moved to the wooden two stories building in the "Klipstraat". This building was demolished not long ago.
The lodge operated on the upper floor while the ground floor was rented to the Government as Post Office.
On January 6, 1941 the Lodge had to resume its activities in the Lago Community School, however, under blackout conditions because of the World War II.
All the attributes and paraphernalia had to be brought from Oranjestad in the evening. The cars had to drive with a one-inch square portion of the headlights visible. The remainder of the headlamp was painted blue.
After Lodge meeting all was dismantled again and taken back to Oranjestad.
On April 30, 1941 the W.: M.: announced that he resieved word that the Gr.: M.: of Holland died in a concentration camp in Germany and that all Lodges should be in mourning.
During this war the Germans raided all lodge buildings in Holland, took possession of name lists, picked up all the members and sent them to concentration camps.
Many masons went into hiding.
On July 6, 1944 proposals for a location for the new Lodge building were discussed.
On January 17, 1946 a tentative date was set for laying the cornerstone for the building in "Longfellowstraat".
During this period El Sol Naciente had Approx. 167 members.
October 31, 1946, The new Lodgebuilding at "Longfellowstraat" was consecrated.
Altogether there were 47 members and 48 visitors present.
A total of 200 invitations were sent out.
The visitors came from the U.S.A., Curacao, London, Scotland, Trinidad, Peru, Ireland, British Guyana, Hawaii and South Africa.
The records of 1962-1963 show that from the 167 members in 1946,membership dropped to 134.
This was the beginning of the exodus of the Americans, when lago started with the tremendous lay-off program.
By July 1968 our lodge remained with only 26 members of which 8 attended meetings. All three Lodges on the island were experiencing the same situation.
During extraordinary meetings, members of our sister Lodge and the visiting Lodge had to fill in some of the stations in order to perform ceremonies.
During this same period, on July 4, 1968 a motion was presented and carried to sell the building in the Longfellowstraat.
Our Lodge worked during this period in the building of our sister Lodge "King Salomon" in Savaneta
During this meeting we were informed that we finally got the key of the building in J.G. Emanstraat 39 and that the building would be vacant within 10 days.
On September 3, 1975 the covering of the top floor started.
On February 14, 1976 was set to move our paraphernalia from the old building to the new one. Our first meeting was held in the new building in the banquet hall on March 17, 1976.
By now El Sol Naciente has 80 members and is located in a new building at cumana 26.
The remainder of the years not mentioned in this resume, It will be the task of the younger breth:.
To see to it that all records are maintained in perfect order and to update this report for posterity.
Note: This is a compilation of the history given in a lecture by W.: Br.: Jacky Beaujon(PM)†Past Masters
58.
W.: M.: Stephen Daal 6006-6007
57.
Karel Wever 6004-06 56.
Marrug G.
6002-04
55
Bowen, S.
6000-02
